Bank of America’s top management circle will be changing at the end of June as chief executive Kenneth Lewis announced today that company veteran Gregory Curl will replace retiring Chief Risk Officer Amy Woods Brinkley.

The shift comes as the Charlotte-based bank seeks to extricate itself from the federal government’s ownership in preferred shares, bought last year during a particularly critical period of the current financial officer. The company has taken heavy losses linked to bad investments in the mortgage market.

Lewis lauded Woods Brinkley, 60, who has been with the firm since 1978 and in her current role since 2002, her for her “tremendous contribution” to the firm over the years in various roles, calling her an “essential cornerstone” of the company.

Brinkley, who had top roles in consumer products and marketing, will continue to serve on the company’s charitable board.

Curl, who has been with the company for nearly 31 years, has been the firm’s executive head of corporate development and planning. He will continue to be a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

“Greg has that natural ability to look at things, see both the upside and the potential pitfalls and then navigate the right course,” Lewis said.

Among Curl’s roles was sitting on the strategy development committee of China Construction Bank. Bank of America recently sold part of its stake in the Chinese bank for $7.3 billion to raise capital as part of U.S. supervisory requirements to create a capital buffer to protect the bank in case of a worse than expected downturn in the economy.

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